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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Gina's Questions

Awhile back, I saw over at Just Another Day, Gina was offering to do a mini-interview and in a lapse of judgement, I put my name down for it. Apparently, I'm meant to offer to ask other people questions, but I'm shy. Please don't. Here are Gina's questions, I had fun with them :)

What is the best concert you have ever attended?

I wish I had been to more concerts to have a selection to choose from, but sadly, I have been to a total of two concerts in my entire life. I'll tell you about both :)

The second was a few years ago, when Shadowfalcon and I still worked together. She invited me (and our husbands) out to this cosy little bar in London, where Rosie Thomas was playing. I hadn't heard of her music beforehand, but I really liked it. She has an .. interesting alter-ego that comes out in between sets. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but honestly her music is beautiful and I've got all her CDs now :)

And my first concert. It'd have to be my favourite. When I was still in high school I had a friend who was from Mexico, Teresa. We were pretty close, and she introduced me to this Latin singer who was kinda hot and sang mostly love songs, and I fell in love. I used to watch this one Spanish soap opera, because this guy used to sing in the credits (I know I'm sad but I was 14). My Spanish had always been just OK before, but once I started buying his albums, I picked up on so many different phrases and could translate whole songs in Spanish back into English. Anyway, said friend moved to Utah fairly shortly afterwards, but to make up for such childhood losses, we planned on going to a concert in Salt Lake City when this guy was touring. It never happened and I didn't really see Teresa again.

Fastforward 7-8 years, and I'd told this story to N. All these years later, I still thought, 'if only I'd been able to see Enrique Iglesias in concert...' because, yes, it was Enrique Iglesias I'd crushed on for so many years. And that's where I thought that story would end, but no. N told me one night, after work he'd made plans to meet up with a friend of ours in London to see an IMAX film. I'd just worked a really, really long shift and was exhausted. I tried to get out of it. I told him, I'm tired, I just want to go home and rest. N persisted. We made it into London and we were meant to go to the IMAX cinema inside the Science Museum. I thought, great, I'll just sit down in there somewhere until our friend arrives. N says 'I've never really seen this part of London before, let's go explore' and off he dragged me. We walked around for AGES and there was me whinging the entire time. And then the Royal Albert Hall came into sight and there was signs everywhere with Enrique's face. My jaw dropped. My tired feet were forgotten and I raced around deluding myself into thinking maybe I'd catch a glimpse of him somewhere. N said 'I'm just going to stand over here' and stood in the queue to get in. I still didn't get it. I said to him, 'but that's the queue to get in, and oh, I suppose we'd better go back and see if Wing (our friend) is there' And N says 'well, if you want, but I've got tickets' or something similar. It was all very exciting that night. I'd finally fulfilled a childhood dream.

What are the best and worst things about living in the UK?This was the hardest question. I feel like living in Oregon was a million years ago and I find it difficult to remember. The best thing about living in the UK is that it feels like home. With N and Elliot and our home here together. It's a beautiful country when we have the time to go out and see it, and it's so close to the rest of Europe. I like that England has a long history, with Roman ruins and old run down castles to visit. I like how multicultural it feels. It's always said that America is a big melting pot, but I never felt that. When I was in school I FELT like the brown kid (I was darker back then) and when N came to visit he was stared at everywhere he went. I don't feel out of place here.

The worst things about living here is that it's far away from my dad and brother. I've never had a fantastic relationship with either of them when I lived in Oregon, but it seemed to have changed as I moved here (I did a lot of growing up!) and now I miss that I don't have more time to spend with my family. I miss the familiarity of my hometown. Everything was accessible and nearby. Here, you need a car to get by. And there is a huge lack of American sweets. I can't get tootsie rolls or Airheads ANYWHERE! :)

What is your dream job?

My dream job would be as a successful young adult novelist. It's what I've always wanted to be. But I don't have the confidence in myself or in my writing at the moment to take my dream and do something with it. Not yet. Maybe someday. Otherwise I'd like to work with children somehow. I don't mean looking after them, I mean helping them. Troubled children, maybe abused children.

Tea or coffee?People think I'm strange, because I don't drink either. I'm more of a cold drink person. I prefer fizzy drinks or strange fruit juices (my favourite at the moment is pomegranate and raspberry). Unless I have a cold, then maybe I'll drink hot chocolate or a fruity herbal tea.

What is your favorite activity to do with your son?

I love doing anything with Elliot. He's so fun to be around! Whenever I can, I like to take him to this big green area almost next door to our house and run around kicking a football with him. He has the most infectious and gorgeous laugh ever. I wish I could drive so I could take him to other toddler classes in the area. An arts and crafts class, or Kindermusic, Tumbletots, anything. I think he'd enjoy them all!

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Me Me Me

I've been running my book blog, Fluttering Butterflies, for the past (nearly) 9 years and have recently taken up booktubing on my own channel, cloveryness, as well as collaboratively with the Bookish Brits.